A Linguistic Remark on SNARC: Language and Perceptual Processes in Spatial-Numerical Association

Sterling Hutchinson, University of Memphis

Sophia Johnson, University of Memphis

Max Louwerse, University of Memphis

Abstract

The spatial-numerical association of response codes (SNARC) effect
provides evidence for perceptual simulation of symbols. However, a perceptual
simulation account leaves little room for non-embodied accounts, even though
recent studies have demonstrated that statistical linguistic data can explain the
findings from various embodied cognition studies. The current study explored
whether linguistic factors could also explain the SNARC effect. In a response
time experiment participants were asked to make parity judgments of number words.
Frequencies of those number words explained the results just as well as a
perceptual simulation explanation. Moreover, collocation frequencies (the
previous word and the following word) also explained response times, further
demonstrating that linguistic factors might play an important role in number
processing. The results of this experiment demonstrate that language encodes
information that could also be attributed to perceptual simulations.
Consequently, language users might also rely on these linguistic cues during
number processing.